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By Emily, March 3, 2010 7:36 pm

I made up for the past couple weeks of not cooking by spending the better part of the past weekend and yesterday afternoon in the kitchen.  I tried out a bunch of new recipes and had a great time trying some things that were more complicated than my recent fare.

A rundown, with links to recipes where appropriate:

Wine Braised Lentils Over Toast with Kale and Pearl Onions
This was my first try making (or eating!) lentils and it was definitely a success.  Would I make it again?  Absolutely.  Do I need to find more lentil recipes?  Yes, and soon!

Black Bean and Jalapeno Soup
Vegetarian and adapted from a Bobby Flay recipe, this simple soup was pretty delicious, if not a little spicy for my taste.

Cornbread–from scratch! What would I do without How to Cook Everything Vegetarian?

Baked Pasta with Gruyere and Mushrooms
So what if it’s elevated mac-n-cheese?  It was still mighty tasty!  Plus Brian, who’s not a fan of mushrooms, ate it.

I would write more, but I’ve somehow contracted my third cold of the winter.  It’s pretty much kicking my butt.  I was okay over the weekend (hence all the cooking), but last night I was in bed by 7:30.  Plus being sick has dulled my taste buds so much that I can’t taste anything, so that’s uncool. Here’s hoping I’m feeling better soon, for the sake of my students, my sanity and this blog!

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By Emily, February 23, 2010 7:14 pm

Fresh on the heels of my super-yummy polenta casserole (which was less mushy after a couple nights in the fridge), I tried out another never before made (by me) recipe.  Yes, I tried 2 new recipes in one week!  I told you I was returning to the kitchen!  It’s about freakin’ time.

The recipe for Tortilla and Black Bean Torte from Planet Green appeared in my reader last week and sounded like a neat way to make vegetarian Mexican food that isn’t tacos or burritos.  You sandwich a cheese and bean/spice/corn/onion filling between tortillas and bake it in the oven.

Okay, so, this looks kind of like mush too.  But, remember, I specialize in delicious mush.  My tortillas were a little small for the pan so I didn’t fill them to the edge so that contributes to the whole creation being a little sad looking.  Still, the taste was pretty awesome and surprisingly rich and filling.  I adjusted the recipe and only used 1/3 or so of a chipotle pepper–those things are hot!  And I left out the scallions, cilantro, and sour cream because I’m realizing sometimes it’s not worth tracking down ingredients you don’t already have in your cupboard.

Would I make it again?  Absolutely.  I might even tweak it a bit more and see what I can come up with.

When all was said and done, I was left with just 2 questions:

1) Anyone have a fool-proof method for resurrecting dried beans? I soaked mine overnight and then cooked them for a little bit and they came out pretty well, but I still feel like I’m missing something that’s making the whole process more difficult than it’s supposed to be.

2) What should I do with the rest of my chipotle peppers? I’ve still got a half dozen or so in my freezer and they’re so spicy I can’t figure out how to use them up!

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By Emily, February 4, 2010 6:58 pm

It’s a good thing I got married to someone who really loves me, because I think my parents and my sister might disown me.

I made baked tofu the other night.  And Brian and I both really, really liked it.  This would have never happened in my house growing up.  Never ever.

At the beginning of the month “learn to cook with tofu” was on my list of New Years Resolutions.  At that point, I had no idea how I was going to do it, but a recently PETA’s VegCooking Blog posted a recipe for All-Purpose Baked Tofu.  It looked really good.  When Brian said he wanted to eat stir-fry this week, I knew it was the perfect opportunity to try making it.

I was pleased to discover that the 14 oz package of extra-firm tofu I bought only cost $1.99.  Having never worked with tofu before, I had no idea how much it would cost.  The recipe was easy to follow and turned out great (though 20 minutes total cooking time seems like plenty, not 15 minutes per side).

So, at the risk of being disowned by my meat-and-potatoes family: I made tofu from a PETA recipe.  And I liked it.  A lot.

More tofu recipes are probably in my future.

An update on my other resolutions:

• Go to the gym at least twice a week- After a couple weeks of insanity that kept us from working out, Brian and I have figured out a schedule that works well for us and have been visiting the gym 3 times a week.  Oddly enough, I’ve suddenly started to enjoy going.

• Drink more water-Probably the simplest of my resolutions and yet establishing a new habit is harder than it looks.  Most days as I’m running around my classroom, it doesn’t occur to me to pick up my water bottle.  But I’m working on it.

• Add new posts to Relishments at least twice a week- Clearly, some weeks are better than others.  But lately I’ve felt more interested in blogging and I’m hoping things stay on an update swing.  At the same time, work keeps me awfully busy and sometimes dinner’s nothing to write home about.
• Learn to bake really good bread/Create Original Recipes/Learn to Make Things I Usually Buy-I have recipes I want to try, I just have to find the time.  Those resolutions are more lifestyle goals than anything, so they’ll always be a work in progress.
• Maximize my freezer space-I haven’t gotten around to organizing my bedroom, nevermind my freezer.

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By Emily, December 2, 2009 8:42 pm

Yikes–it’s December already! I hope your Thanksgiving was wonderful.  Mine was really nice.   Brian and I spent the long weekend in Maine with my family and, despite the rain, enjoyed ourselves.  Unfortunately, being at home and on vacation meant I emphasized the “flexitarian” part of my diet and took the liberty to eat whatever I wanted.

Granted, I know one weekend of eating without thinking isn’t going to kill me, but I worked hard to come up with a healthier menu for this week.  I came up with some new vegetarian recipes to try out.  Imagine my delight when the first two dishes I tried out were really delicious.  I highly recommend them.

Creamy Broccoli Soup via Serious Eats

Have I mentioned I’m a sucker for soup?  Despite the fact that the recipe posted on Serious Eats is adapted from my most frequently used cookbook, How to Cook Everything Vegetarian, I was a little suspicious of a broccoli soup that wasn’t full of cheese.

So, it’s green…and there’s no cheese.  But fear not: this soup is really good (and there’s sour cream and white wine, so that helps).  Plus it’s really simple–only 8 ingredients!  We used our new hand blender (sorry mom, we couldn’t wait to open the Christmas presents…) to puree the soup.  It didn’t make the soup completely smooth, but I think that’s an effect of the broccoli more than the blender.  However, a few spoonfuls in, the taste of the soup overwhelmed any minor texture issues.

Penne with Lemon, Potatoes, and Cannellini via Cheap Healthy Good

Yes, you read that right: pasta and potatoes. And spinach, cannellini beans, lemon juice and dried basil.  I found the recipe on Cheap Healthy Good’s list of bean recipes because I really want to include more beans in my diet.  As I cooked the recipe, I got really excited about it.  It just held a lot of promise.  And, when all was said and done (and it only took about half an hour!), the meal measured up to it’s promise.  Really, really satisfying and flavorful.  We added more spinach, sauce and some Calamata olives to the leftovers which increased the flavor even further.  This recipe is one that’s definitely going to go into my “meals in a pinch” pile.

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By Emily, November 19, 2009 7:45 am

After last weekend’s not-so-great chickpea soup, Brian and I have determined that chickpeas aren’t mean for soup.  I mean, putting them in chili is one thing, but “chickpea soup” is probably not a necessary part of our diet.  There are better ways to use chickpeas.

Like in a Falafel Sandwich with Tomato-Cucumber Salad.

First of all, it needs to be expressed that I am no falafel expert.  I’m not sure I’ve ever even had falafel before (sorry if that’s upsetting to some of you).   But when Matt posts a recipe on No Meat Athlete and says its good and I already have all but 2 of the ingredients in my pantry, it’s hard to say no.

Given my lack of falafel experience, I didn’t have much of an expectation of what these chickpea fritters were supposed to taste like.  But the people at Fine Cooking know what they’re talking about and the sandwiches were really good.  I think my falafel was a little mushy, but they stayed together well enough to make it into the pita.  In my opinion, the tomato and cucumber salad (I substituted one regular tomato for the cherry tomatoes) made the sandwich.  And, as usual, super easy.  As Matt says, “Make it next time you don’t know what to make when the spouse is on her way home.”  Of course, that’s assuming you’re the one that does the cooking, not your spouse.

If you’re curious about those yummy looking fries in the background, you need to make them as well.  (But maybe not with the above sandwich…I was so full of falafel that I hardly ate any of my fries!)   After having had amazing sweet potato fries on our honeymoon, I discovered a recipe from Food Network to that is almost as delicious.  The “secret” seasonings? Chili powder and pumpkin pie spice.  Sweet potatoes and yams are super cheap right now, a perfect time to make sweet potato fries.

Enjoy!

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By Emily, November 15, 2009 5:04 pm

Saturday night I tried not one, but two, new recipes.  Insanity.  Anyway, here’s the rundown:

Spiced Chickpea & Lemon Soup

(via Serious Eats)

Brian and I really, really like chickpeas (I think it’s in response to my bean-less childhood).  And soup, of course.  This soup was pretty easy to make, too.  We pureed the soup in the food processor and it came it kind of grainy and weird.  Not so great.  Today, before lunch, we ran the rest of the soup through the blender and it came out much smoother and tastier.  Brian really liked it, but I’m still unconvinced.  Would I make it again?  Maybe, but I suspect there are better chickpea soups out there.

No-Time Bread

(via The Kitchn)

When 30 Bucks a Week mentioned The Kitchn’s No-Time Bread, which can be made in about an hour, I got really excited.  Brian and I have been talking about and putting off making “real” bread for quite some time now, but I always want something other than sandwich bread when we’re having soup (which is at least once a week).  I expected that No-Time Bread wasn’t going to taste as good as bread I spent all day baking, but really, it did.

The actual creation of the bread was a little touch and go…the dough seemed way more goopy than I thought it was supposed to be.  I failed to shape it into any sort of ball and basically poured the dough into our casserole dish.   I guess it was supposed to look like that though, because it turned out great.  Now I really want to make bread!  Until then, I’m so glad I have this easy, fast, yummy recipe on hand.

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By Emily, October 26, 2009 10:49 am

It’s possible that I said I was giving up on Rachael Ray recipes.

It’s also very likely that I lied.

Why? Because in my recipe binder I had a recipe for Penne with Pumpkin Cream Sauce.  My love for pumpkin outweighs my disappointment in Rachael’s recipes.

Luckily, this Rachael recipe was one of the better ones I’ve made of late.   The recipe is extremely simple: Cook pasta.  Cook onions.  Add pumpkin puree and heavy cream to onions.  Boil.  Add Parmesan cheese.  Add pasta.  Mix.  Serve with more cheese and fresh parsley.  Despite the simplicity, the pumpkin cream sauce was really yummy, though it did benefit from salt.  The sauce was, surprisingly, not overwhelmingly pumpkin-y.  But it was really good.  And it’s really nice to have something else on my pasta besides standard tomato sauce.

It is sort of a mental trip though…I kept expecting the orange pasta sauce to taste like cheddar cheese :)

On a side note, I can’t remember the last time I had “regular” pasta.  I’ve gotten completely used to eating whole wheat pasta and was rather confused the other day when some of the teachers at lunch were maligning the cardboard-like taste of whole wheat pasta.  Anyone else completely and happily converted to whole wheat pasta?

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By Emily, October 25, 2009 10:39 am

When my brother-in-law saw my tweet that I’d bought 6 cans of pumpkin puree that I didn’t have a use for, he almost immediately emailed me a soup recipe.  As should be clear by now, I love making and eating soup.  Soup + pumpkin could very well be my perfect meal (at least this week).  So far I’ve made 2 vegetarian, pumpkin-y soups.

The recipe my brother-in-law sent me, which I’d had at my mother-in-law’s house, is a Bobby Flay recipe: Mesa Grill’s Pumpkin Soup with Mexican Cinnamon Creme Fraiche.

Spicy, vegetarian and satisfying, this soup is really good.  It’s thick and filling.  It tastes like fall (you know what I mean).

Despite the deliciousness of the soup, there are a couple things that annoy me about it.  First, you make stock using onion, garlic, carrots, celery and water (tip: reduce water to 3 cups!)  I know a lot of people make stock regularly and those ingredients aren’t that expensive, but it seems a waste to me to throw all the vegetables out.  This from the girl who likes her stock from a jar.  I just need to get used to it I guess. That said, it is easy to do.

The other thing that annoys me about this soup is that it requires 2 teaspoons of chipotle puree.  As a substitute, we (myself, Brian’s brother, and Brian’s mother) use 3/4 teaspoon of canned chipotles in adobo, pureed.  Unfortunately, this will leave you with almost an entire can of chiptoles leftover.  They’re in my freezer.  Someday I might use them up, but it’ll be a while-they’re spicy!

Despite those minor annoyances, this soup’s well worth trying out.

That was the first week.  Last week (I’m a little behind on posting), with our Apple Barn apples, I made Curried Pumpkin and Apple Soup from ZestyCook.  I know, it looks almost the same.  But it’s not!

Apples and pumpkin…can it get any better?  We really liked this soup, possibly better than Bobby Flay’s.  Unfortunately, it had too much cayenne for us (and we do like spicy food!).  Next time I’ll use less and individuals can season to taste because the spice overpowered the rest of the dish.  Thank goodness for sour cream, which dramatically reduced the spice and made the soup much more enjoyable.  The tartness of the apples mixed with the sweet, creamy pumpkin was really a genius idea.  The recipe is also one of those wonderful, rare occurrences when I had all of the ingredients on hand.

As I learned a few weeks ago with my Tomato and Fennel Soup, make sure you’re careful when pureeing the soup in the food processor or blender.  This time I left the processing to Brian and we did not find ourselves with burns or a kitchen covered in soup.  Success!

I’m still obsessed, so check back for pumpkin pasta, chili and more!

Enjoy!

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By Emily, October 22, 2009 3:01 pm

As I’ve mentioned before, I love fall.  The weather, the food, the holidays.   And though growing up my family never ate pumpkin (or any other squash), I really like pumpkin.  The availability of Starbuck’s Pumpkin Spice Lattes gets me really excited.  When Brian and I were visiting my parents for Columbus Day we bought a bag of Pumpkin Pie flavored popcorn from Coastal Maine Popcorn Company (it was really good!!!)) In short, I really like pumpkin.

Of course, this is all despite the fact that, until a week ago, I had never cooked with it.

That changed because about a month ago, I saw a post on $5 Dinners about a shortage of canned pumpkin puree, due to last year’s bad weather.  The article had a whole bunch of comments from people who were having a hard time finding canned pumpkin in their local stores.  Naturally, I became concerned and began looking for canned pumpkin every time I was in a store.

A couple weeks ago, I was thrilled to see that Walmart had canned pumpkin! Not wanting to miss out, I bought six cans.  Since then, it seems the shortage is over (that was quick!).  Nevertheless, I have six cans of pumpkin puree.  Luckily, many other food blogs are posting great pumpkin recipes.  We’ve been eating pumpkin-y foods all week in our apartment and I’m not sure it’s going to let up anytime soon, especially since pumpkin now seems so easy to come by!  This is the first of several entries which will focus on my experiments with recipes that star pumpkin puree.

The first recipient of my bounty of pumpkin was Pioneer Woman’s Moist Pumpkin Spice Muffins.  I figured, how could I go wrong with a Pioneer Woman recipe?

I was right, you can’t go wrong.  The muffins were really awesome.  Definitely moist.  I didn’t make the frosting because I’m lazy and cheap and not a big frosting person, but I’m sure it’s yummy too.  Oh, and I didn’t add the raisins.  One piece of advice: when she says “generously grease” the muffin tins, she means it.  I skipped it since I was using paper liners, but my muffins did stick to the liners a bit.  If you’re annoyed by the fact that the recipe calls for just over a cup for pumpkin, leaving you with about a 1/3 of a can, don’t worry.  Cook it up in a skillet with some nuts and brown sugar until warm and serve it as a side.  It’s pretty amazing.  Anyway, this muffin recipe is one of my new favorites and if you’re as into pumpkin as I am, you should check it out.

Come to think of it, I may need to make another batch of muffins for next week’s breakfast…

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By Emily, September 29, 2009 6:11 am

I just made my first frittata for dinner tonight and it came out so well!

I’m very proud of myself.

I used this recipe for Crispy Prosciutto and Scallion Frittata from Real Simple, but cut down on the prosciutto a bit, because it seemed like an awful lot.  Instead of making the arugula and goat cheese salad, I served the frittata on a bed of spinach.  Delicious.  I expect many more frittatas (frittati?) in my future now that I know it really is as easy as they say.